St Vincent’s opposition party (NDP) plan for CBI is facing more dangerous headwinds with the latest leaked memo from the US administration, which gives 4 CBI Caribbean nations 60 days to clean up their act.
The Washington Post obtained a leaked State Department memo that lists Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia.
In May, Opposition MP Fitz Bramble said during a party meeting in West St George that the New Democratic Party intends to implement the Citizenship by Investment programme, aiming to prevent any further “hook in the gill of Vincentians”.
“We are going to make sure that we embark on what we call sustainable financing of our developmental activities, and one of those ways is by the Citizenship by Investment programme. And our CBI is going to offer many options, including a contribution to a national development fund from which our constituency development fund can emerge.”
Bramble ignoring any possible restrictions stated;
“I would much prefer to get $200 million from ten investors. If it means we have to get visas to go to England, we already have to get visas to go to America and Canada. So what’s the difference?” Bramble opined.
The memo identified varied benchmarks that, in the administration’s estimation, these countries were failing to meet, including the availability of citizenship by monetary investment without a requirement of residency and claims of “antisemitic and anti-American activity in the United States” by people from those countries.
The memo also stated that if a country was willing to accept third-country nationals who were removed from the United States or enter a “safe third country” agreement, it could mitigate other concerns.
The countries have until 8 a.m. Wednesday to present an initial response on how they will mitigate the issues, according to the leaked memo.
St Vincent Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, has ruled out providing solidarity to any of the five Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries that operate citizenship by investment (CBI) programmes.
